By Euronews Persian
Published on •Updated
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy claims to have intercepted a US underwater vehicle during a reconnaissance mission in the Strait of Hormuz, but the US military denied the Iranian claim shortly after.
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In a statement, the IRGC Navy said it had seized the vessel following a “coordinated intelligence and electronic warfare operation”. They further claim that the vehicle is a REMUS 600 and has been handed over to Iranian military experts “to retrieve its data”.
According to Iranian media, REMUS 600 autonomous underwater vehicles are used by the US Navy and several NATO member states. They are relatively lightweight, modular systems compared with larger ocean-going submersibles.
Equipped with various sensors, cameras and advanced sonar systems, the vehicles are primarily designed for surveillance, seabed mapping, mine countermeasures and underwater inspections and can operate at depths of up to 600 metres.
The US CENTCOM, which coordinates US military operations in the Middle East, denied the Iranian claims shortly after. In a statement to Al Jazeera, CENTCOM spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said the US has “positive control of all of our operational drone assets.”
It is the second time in recent days that Tehran has claimed to have seized US underwater equipment.
On Tuesday, the IRGC announced that it had intercepted another autonomous underwater vehicle, identified as a Dive-LD manufactured by US defence company Anduril, near the entrance to the strategically important Strait of Hormuz. Washington has yet to publicly respond to that claim.
IRGC claims Strait of Hormuz is still closed
In the final part of its statement, the IRGC Navy reiterated Tehran’s claim that “the Strait of Hormuz is closed”, warning that its forces would confront any unauthorised passage or military activity in the waterway.
Also on Sunday, the commander in chief of Iran’s army, Major General Amir Hatami, reaffirmed Iran’s control and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, saying that the waterway “is the strait of our honour, and we will not allow the enemies of the country to use this great logistical bottleneck.”
He also called on the Gulf countries once again to push US forces out of the region claiming that “security in the region will not happen except with the removal of the United States and the Zionist regime – and this is not far away.”
Hatami also said “the war is not over; we have won, but we must consolidate this victory, and the aggressor enemy, which has suffered severe blows, must still be ready to receive severe blows from the dear Iranian soldiers.”
But US President Donald Trump told the US media on Sunday that oil prices will decrease “as soon as Iran gives up, as soon as the war is over, which will be soon”.
